


Character Study: Daniel Jackson, age 17

by pipisafoat



Series: Remus's Sevens (part of the larger Harry Granger universe) [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:14:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27862130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pipisafoat/pseuds/pipisafoat
Summary: Written for the prompt "a character leaves home for the last time"Daniel says goodbye to his foster mother.
Series: Remus's Sevens (part of the larger Harry Granger universe) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/658178
Kudos: 23





	Character Study: Daniel Jackson, age 17

Daniel looked around the small room one last time. The bunk beds were both tidily made, though several toys were out on the upper bunk compared to the spotless bottom bunk. The white desk was empty; he double checked the drawers for any stray parchments or notebooks but found none. A small muggle novel sat lonely on the top of the desk, a light jacket draped over the back of the desk chair. Those he would want while on the train, if Jack would leave him alone long enough to read, that is. He ignored the toy box except to cross the room and drop a rainbow-striped ball into it: the ball was a gift from him to his seven-year roommate and foster brother, Josh.

“Daniel?”

He spun around, hand falling automatically to his right hip pocket where he carried his wand. He relaxed when he recognized the short, too-thin woman standing in the doorway of his bedroom. “Melissa.”

The woman sighed heavily. “Will I see you again, or are you still planning to get your own place as soon as school lets out?”

He dropped his hand to hang naturally at his side. “Jack and I are still planning to get our own place right away.”

“You’re always welcome to come back here, Daniel,” Melissa said sadly. “Always.”

Acting on impulse, he crossed the room and swept her up in a tight hug that he held for almost half a minute before slowly releasing her. “I know,” he said simply.

Tears welled in her eyes. “Don’t forget about us. I know we haven’t ever been your parents - we haven’t ever tried to be your parents - but I hope you can remember us fondly.”

Daniel felt tears rise in his own eyes at that. “Oh, Melissa. Of course I’ll remember you fondly. You and Roberto have been so good to me. Amazing, really. I’m just sorry I wasn’t always receptive to that. But I wouldn’t forget you.”

“When you have your own home, write to us, please. Tell us how to get in touch with you. Even if it’s only cards and letters, we’d love to be a part of your adult life.”

He’d have to look into getting a postal box or finding out how muggles could mail him with him living in a magical district. Jack was insistent that they live on Diagon Alley or one of the side streets, and he knew that was a muggle-free zone. “I will,” he promised Melissa. “It may take me some time to get around to it, but I will get in touch with you, I promise.”

She relaxed visibly; Daniel hadn’t even noticed her tension. “Thank you. I know what a promise from you means.”

“What’s that?” he asked curiously.

“You’ve never broken a promise that I know of,” Melissa replied. “You don’t seem to make them often, but you always keep them.”

“You deserve at least that much from me,” he said regretfully. He’d taken his foster parents for granted quite a bit as a younger child, but now that he was an adult, he was more aware of how much the pair had sacrificed in order to care for their two biological and two foster children.

“Will you let me walk you to your train?”

Because they were only foster parents, Melissa and Roberto had always been told Daniel was attending a magnet school for linguistics rather than the truth, by the order of the Ministry of Magic’s Department of Education. Professors McGonagall and Flitwick had taken it in turns to meet the family at the entrance to King’s Cross Station and escort Daniel to the train, but since he was of age this year, nobody would be meeting him. It was up to him to preserve the hidden truth and not reveal platform 9 3/4 to his foster parents. “Come on, Melissa,” he said with forced casualness. “I hardly need a mother figure taking me to the platform. I’m almost eighteen.”

Melissa smiled, albeit sadly. “I wouldn’t embarrass you in front of your friends,” she promised. 

Daniel laughed. If only if were that simple. “And just having you there wouldn’t be embarrassing at all.”

“Okay, okay, I won’t walk you to your train. But I will come inside with you and make sure you’re all set. Which platform is it?”

“Ten.” Professor McGonagall had told him to always choose either platform 9 or platform 10 if asked by a muggle, in case they saw him in the ‘wrong’ part of the station for what they had been told. He’d decided to alternate which number by year, and last year had been platform nine.

His foster mother nodded. “I’ll see you halfway there, then. How does that sound?”

It sounded … nice. Like someone cared about him more than he’d given her credit for. “I guess so,” he said slowly, trying to think through and find any potential problems. He didn’t think she would be able to find out anything about the magical world from a train station.

Melissa laughed. “Teenagers. Always the same. Come on, then. Roberto and Alfie got your trunk loaded into the car, but it’s just you and me for the drive.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, the title indicates further character studies are coming for Daniel. However, they contain spoilers for larger works that are taking a long time to write. Stay tuned for a truly massive fic in a few months, and hopefully I can share some shorter works in the meantime!


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